BREAKING NEWS: Steph McGovern (43) to become lead host of This Morning? – Sending fans into frenzy – How will the team adjust with duo Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard?

Steph McGovern opened up about how she shrugged off her stɑlker after TV bosses assured her it wasn’t a big deal.

The journalist and TV presenter, 43, featured on Tuesday’s instalment of This Morning and was interviewed by co-hosts Ben Shephard and Cat Deeley about her new book.

Titled, Deadline, Steph explained how the tale is fictional but has elements inspired by her real life, including when she was stɑlked.

‘I have had a stɑlker, so that story is in there, I’ve never really tɑlked about it before but it was quite fun and therapeutic writing it in a crime fiction,’ Steph explained.

She added: ‘Weirdly in telly, when I found out I had a stɑlker and told my bosses they were like ‘Oh yeah, everyone gets a stɑlker at some point’.

‘But this was a guy who just used to turn up everywhere I went.’

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Steph McGovern (pictured) opened up about how she shrugged off her stɑlker after TV bosses told her it wasn’t a big deal

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The journalist and TV presenter, 43, featured on Tuesday’s instalment of This Morning and was interviewed by co-hosts Ben Shephard and Cat Deeley (pictured) about her new book

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Titled, Deadline, Steph explained how the tale is fictional but has elements inspired by her real life, including when she was stɑlked

The TV presenter recalled how although the man ‘wasn’t horrible’ to her, he did think he was in a relationship with her.

‘He used to think, when I said ‘Morning everyone’ on the telly, that I was talking directly to him and he used to think when I put things on social media that that was me telling him where to meet me,’ she added.

The stɑlker would then turn up to where Steph was broadcasting from and offer her a lift home.

‘… He’d say things to me like, ‘Oh can I give you a lift home again Steph? I’ve got your favourite snacks,’ Steph described.

‘But also I didn’t want to be rude to him because I thought I don’t know what’s going on in his life,’ she added.

However, Steph recalled the ‘final straw’ was when the stɑlker contacted her family.

She said: ‘My dad rang me and was like ‘Steph, who’s this fella you’re seeing? He’s sent us a letter’.’

The man had tɑlked to Steph’s father as though he was in a relationship with her and asked him for permission to marry the journalist.

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‘I have had a stɑlker, so that story is in there, I’ve never really tɑlked about it before but it was quite fun and therapeutic writing it in a crime fiction,’ Steph explained

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The stɑlker would then turn up to where Steph was broadcasting from and offer her a lift home

But the stɑlker having her father’s address ‘freaked out’ Steph.

‘That’s when it all kicked in and the BBC security team did their thing,’ she explained.

It comes after This Morning fans were thrilled when Steph made an epic daytime TV return last month. 

The journalist and TV presenter appeared alongside LBC radio host Nick Ferrari, 66, for the ITV chat show’s This Morning View segment.

It saw the pair unpack the top headlines, from Chancellor Rachel Reeves‘s spending review yesterday, to a survey on whether the UK still has a North-South divide.

Steph, after working as BBC Breakfast’s business presenter and a programme co-host, began leading her own daytime chat show Steph’s Packed Lunch in 2020.

But after the Channel 4 programme was axed in 2023, viewers have been missing her presence on daytime TV – and took to X to welcome her return.

One user said: ‘Loving Steph McGovern on This Morning today. Down to earth, funny and clever. She should be on more often or even presenting the show.’

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It comes after This Morning fans were thrilled when Steph made an epic daytime TV return last month

Another added: ‘This Morning, please use Steph McGovern as a main presenter. She is really good.’

Similarly, someone else commented: ‘Great having Steph on This Morning.’

One user had their first introduction to Steph on the segment, saying: ‘I like the woman who was with Nick Ferrari. Who is she?

‘Articulate, intelligent, funny and a Northerner!’